EVENT BUOYS TOURISM Swimming competition boosts the June numbers

After two weeks of swimming and exploring in and around Sarasota, 44-year-old Claudia Cornejo is returning home to Peru with a few medals and lots of memories.

Cornejo was one of 1,700 athletes from North, South, and Central America who swam in the 2013 Pan-American Masters Championship, a competition for adult swimmers that took place in the U.S. for the first time this year.

When she wasn't swimming at Potter Park in Sarasota, she spent her time here in the bleachers cheering on teammates from her home country and exploring Sarasota County's sandy white beaches.

"The beach is so beautiful here, it's so different than the beach and the ocean in Peru," said Cornejo, who lives in Lima, Peru's capital.

But the trip Cornejo and her teammates made to Southwest Florida was about more than swimming and hitting the beach. They spent more than a week in Sarasota, dining at local restaurants, shopping at the two Westfield Group malls and seeing attractions like local museums.

Tourism officials said they could not be happier about the success of the event.

"We had an OK April and May, but we will have an awesome June because of the Pan-Americans," said Virginia Haley, president of Visit Sarasota County, the county's tourism agency.

The championships, which showcased synchronized swimming and race events, resulted in an estimated 4,000 hotel room nights for the region and $4 million in economic impact.

'A good dry run'

Hoteliers, local officials and Sarasota-based U.S. Masters Swimming executives spent months preparing for the event, which also represented a test case for the area's ability to host other international, sports-related events.

While the Pan-American swim meet was not the region's first international event, it was the longest in duration, with visitors and athletes here, in some cases, for 10 days or longer.

Tourism officials, too, said the championships will provide valuable experience should the region be selected to host the 2017 World Rowing Championships, which would bring 42,000 people to the region for a 10-day competition.

Local officials will know in August if Nathan Benderson Park has been selected to be the site of the 2017 rowing championships.

"All of us involved learned so much, from registration to amenities like having a cellphone charging station, which we will now have if we land the rowing championships," Haley said. "This was definitely a good dry run for that."

Hoteliers, too, said they were delighted to have the swimmers and their supporters here.

The 121-room Best Western Plus Gateway Siesta Key sold out the weekend of June 7-9 thanks in part to the Pan-American championship, said general manager Maria Bankemper.

"We are having the best June on record since we purchased the hotel almost six years ago," Bankemper said. "That includes the year we were announced the No. 1 Beach in 2011."

She has seen swimmers all over.

"From the malls to restaurants to Siesta Key Village," she said. "Bravo to those who worked so hard to bring this event here."

Ripple effect

Rodney Weisleder, a swimmer from Costa Rica, came to Sarasota with the rest of his team to compete.

He also managed to sneak in a mini-vacation, too, by flying into Miami and renting a car to drive to Sarasota.

Like many participants, Weisleder praised the YMCA facilities and pool maker Myrtha Pools, a Sarasota company that outfitted the Potter Park pool.

"The pool here is phenomenal, it has to be one of the best ones I've ever swam in," Weisleder said. "This was a class A event, and the city has been so friendly and made us all feel welcomed."

Not surprisingly, other parts of the state benefited from having the Pan-Am championship here.

Weisleder drove back and spent some time in Miami before returning home. Cornejo decided to book a week in Orlando after the championships.

Mark McCaw, from Estero, spent more than a week in Sarasota to work as a volunteer for the swimming event, paying all of his own expenses for the week. A USA Swimming certified official, McCaw has worked at swimming competitions around the world, including events in Guam, South America and Europe.

"The Pan-Americans this year is as good, if not better, than any of those events," he said before the end of the championship.

Other volunteers came from from Oregon, Washington state and even Argentina. "There's a sense of community here."

Return on investment

The YMCA has invested thousands of dollars into Potter Park since opening it in 2000.

Prior to the championships, the Olympic-size swimming pool and diving area was resurfaced and start boards -- the same as those used in the 2012 Olympics in London -- were installed by Myrtha.

Locker rooms also were updated and new grandstands brought to 1,000 the number of spectators who could watch races at one time.

The improvements, which cost the YMCA $700,000 and Sarasota County about $350,000, have positioned the aquatic center to be a more competitive venue for other championship events, said Rob Butcher, executive director of U.S. Masters Swimming, which together with the YMCA organized and produced the Pan-Am event.

"This venue is a tremendous asset to the community that provides community, social and economic benefit," Butcher said.

"More than 90 percent of the participants here are not from Sarasota, and they filled our hotel rooms, condos on the beach and ate in our restaurants. That trickle-down effect is very positive."

The renovations also could help the YMCA attract events like USA Swimming derbies, the YMCA national championships and masters nationals events, Butcher said.

"They can use us as a case study for future events," he said. "They are positioned very well."

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